44 CHAPTER 2PRINCIPLES OF FILM FORM
135246Patterns and suspenseFilmmakers can use patterns
to catch us unawares. In The Silence of the Lambs(1991),
Jonathan Demme exploits our sense that when shots are
juxtaposed, they must share a logical connection. After
FBI agents surround a house, an agent disguised as a
deliveryman (Lamont Arnold) rings the doorbell [1]; a bell
rings in the serial killer Buffalo Bill’s (Ted Levine) basement [2];
Bill reacts to that ring [3], leaves behind the prisoner he was
about to harm, goes upstairs, and answers his front door,
revealing not the deliveryman we expect to see but Clarice
Starling (Jodie Foster) [4]. As agents storm the house they’ve
been staking out [5], Clarice and Bill continue to talk [6].
The agents have entered the wrong house, Clarice is now
alone with a psychopath, and our anxiety rises as a result
of the surprise.